


And The Wolves Are Coming (You'd Better Run)

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Supernatural, Teen Wolf (TV), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, BAMF!Stiles, Crossover, Fix-It, Gen, Magic!Stiles, Post-Season/Series 06, Werewolves are still a thing, contains very breif appearances from other TW and TWD charectors, flexible canon for Teen Wolf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 23:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6631252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the arrow first flew out from the trees, Rick felt certain that he was seeing things</p><p>The thing is, Rick isn't sure if this kid is going to be their saving grace... or their guide into hell... "Stiles" is at once wise beyond his years, logical to the state of the world, and compassionate... yet also brash, cold, and when it comes to protecting people he cares about, ruthlessly violent, he seems to be both sincere and a chronic liar and Rick isn't sure what he should be more wary of, the sincere, caring promises of help for Maggie.. or the sleek, clinical way he seems to maneuver around divulging the full truth</p><p> </p><p>*Fix-it fic for the season six finale of TWD, no spoilers and canon divergent for TW and SPN</p>
            </blockquote>





	And The Wolves Are Coming (You'd Better Run)

**Author's Note:**

> So... I put all of my other fics on hold for three weeks because after the season six finale' I just couldn't stop thinking about a fix-it fic where Stiles saves Team Family (because baseball bat justice) and I just had to do the thing, this is my first time writing The Walking Dead or Supernatural so I really hope it's ok, I realize that Stiles is a little OOC in places but I credit that to the zombie situation changing him, I also really didn't intend for this to be so Stiles and Rick centric but it just turned out that way, I'm planning on an AU that will focus a little more on other charectors though- especially Derek and Daryl- so if this is decent stay tuned for that!

When the arrow first flew out from the trees, Rick felt certain that he was seeing things

But the screaming of anger and frustration that came after confirmed he wasn't

"And here I thought we had all of your little group," Negan snarled, the sound of guns setting into position was all he could hear for a moment and he risked a glance up and over at Michonne, who looked as shocked as he did- clearly she and the others that Negan had captured before hadn't crafted some sort of plan

He shifted his focus over to Carl for a second, trying to stay steady, to not show his son how afraid he was, and it was easy to some degree- he was so relieved that the bat was away from Carl's face that it was almost easy to replace the fear with ease

But it wasn't even a full five seconds before he was staring at barbwire again

"Alright, I've been nice- hell I've been downright KIND to you people, but a man has his limits and my kindness has just run out, now you're going to tell me EXACTLY-"

When the second arrow came and hit Negan square in the chest, Rick stopped believing that the first one missed by accident

And when the guns started firing into the woods, all Rick could think of was getting everyone out wile they were distracted

But a quick scan down the line told him that wasn't feesable, someone would have to carry Maggie and Daryl could possibly walk but he would be slow, there was no way he'd be able to run

They were stuck, for better or worse, he knew it would be more dangerous to run at this point, but then the gunfire ceased and he looked up, seeing two of the saviors starting to help Negan up and then without so much as a full minute two arrows shot forward, striking one man in the head and the other in the throat

Whoever this was, they were more skilled than anyone Rick had ever seen

And then the lights all went out, there was no warning, just a complete blackout leaving not a hint of light besides the stars

Screaming and shouting started as well as the sound of gunfire, and Rick reached across to search out blindly for Carl's hand

He didn't find it like he had hoped he would and the darkness and the gunfire seemed non-ending, but finally, after several long, solid minutes that felt more like hours, it stopped

There was nothing but silence until the lights blasted back on again and he was forced to flinch back and squint forward as a figure suddenly started out of the bushes

He wasn't sure what to expect from whoever was emerging, but it wasn't what he ultimately saw

It was a boy, older than Carl but younger than Glenn, with a mop of wrecked brown hair, unusually clean clothes, and most jarring of all- a complete lack of weapons

He was walking towards Negan utterly empty handed and Rick wasn't sure if he had something up his sleeve or... or what he could possibly have up his sleeve if he did...

Negan was coughing up blood, reaching for the barbwire bat that he had dropped upon impact of the arrow and that had moved further away from him when his men came to help him up

The bat that threatened the lives of everyone here

The nameless boy stepped on Negan's wrist coldly, ripping a grunt of pain from the older man as he reached down and picked up the bat himself

"Barbwire," he mused, his voice unusually light and soft, not coated in trauma the way Rick figured it should be, the way his own voice was, lacking the thickness that only came with age

He examined the bat for a moment longer, long fingers wrapped around it as he jumped it up and down, testing the weight before turning towards the man on the ground and pointing it at him

"You're Negan... right?" he asked slowly

"Who's asking?" Negan coughed back, trying to rise to his feet, only for the boy to cock his head like an owl and move the bat down, tapping the arrow in Negan's chest and pushing it further in, causing another grunt of pain to rip out of his throat

"Oh.. no one you'd remember... but I remember you, and I think I know someone who WILL strike a chord.... you remember Chris Argent don't you?"

For the first time since meeting him a few agonizing moments ago, Negan looked unsettled, like something unexpected just hit him

"You're an Argent kid?"

"No," the boy said quickly, swaying on his feet and glancing back down at him

"But my freind Allison is, see you stabbed her father in the back, left him to die in a warehouse full of zombies... left my freind Scott's mom there to die too... hell you left all of us there, but that's not why I'm here... why I'M here, is because you shot my dad, he almost died because of you, and I can't let that go, I can't let someone live in the kind of world we live in now who does that," he explained, slowly, uncaringly, coldly

Rick had never heard anything like it from someone so young

Negan started to sit up, attempting to speak

"Wait-"

But he didn't get the chance, the boy swung the bat down against his skull with such force that the blood splattered all the way across and a few drops hit Rick

He thought the sound of the skull cracking was bad enough, but the sqwuick, squelch of the bat being brought down on grey matter was enough to make him sick

He had to look away on the third swing

He lost count by the sixth

And he didn't open his eyes again until he heard it all stop

Silence

Dead silence

When he did open his eyes again he saw the previously clean boy in front of him soaked in blood and unidentifiable remains of what had once been Negan's skull on the ground

The boy took a few ragged breaths before turning to them, looking considerably surprised as he rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead

"What? You're all still on the ground? Come on, get up," he urged, making a vague hand gesture for them to stand

But no one did, everyone was either staring at him or glancing towards Rick for approval- and Rick didn't respond

"I'm starting to feel bad here, come on, I'm one of the good guys, seriously, stand up," he continued to urge

Hesitantly, with great reluctance, Rick rose to his feet, then Carl, and the others started to follow after that

"Who are you?" he finally rasped out

"I'm Stiles," the kid shrugged back, as if it was an obvious answer

Immediately this put a hint of distrust into Rick's mind, the name sounded fake and he didn't have the best history with people who boasted themselves with titles instead of real names, and looking down at the splatter on the ground all he could think of was "Present company included"...

"Boy you two have seen better days," the boy- _Stiles_ \- commented as he took a few steps towards Daryl and Maggie

Glenn subtlely tightened the grip he had on his wife and Daryl, even in his state, inched a protective step closer, white-nuckled on the blanket draped around his shoulders

"Why did you help us?" Michonne finally spoke up, already having stepped closer to Rick and Carl the moment Stiles turned his attention away from them

"Well it was really more about getting Negan off the face of the earth, you guys were sort of a happy accident," he shrugged, wiping a bloody hand down his face and immediately scrubbing his sleeve across the same place, as if he had forgotten he was soaked in blood

"We saw Negan and his goons gearing their attention towards a collective effort and decided now was the best time to strike, then you guys came along and we realized now was REALLY the right time to strike, we may not have ever been on the other end of I Love Lucy over there but we have our own problems with that sewage rat and we know how bad he can get, we wanted to intervene wile you guys were still kicking, although it didn't go quite as well as we had hoped,"

"'We'?" Michonne echoed

"Well you didn't think I did this alone did you? I mean if you did that kinda makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside but alas, I'm not _that_ good,"

"So where are the rest of you?"

"Around," Stiles shrugged vaguely, taking a step away from the group before continuing

"They've got whatever creepy-crawlies managed to make it through alive and have ... relocated them for now, hey, do you guys have a doctor around?"

"We were on our way to one," Rick said quietly

Stiles hummed quietly, considering that for a moment

"Well I don't know how far you were going but... my freind's mom is a nurse, best medical professional I've seen, our place is only a few miles from here, she could fix you guys right up,"

"Why? What do you want from us?"

Stiles stared at Rick, seemingly confused

"Why would I help you?"

"Why would you waste resources on complete strangers and not want anything back?"

"Because it isn't 'wasting resources', it's saving lives, I don't know if you've noticed this but humanity is kind of on the brink of extinction here, between the zombies and the trash-bags like Negan roaming around we need every living, moderately sane human being we can get, and correct me if I'm wrong but you guys are atleast sort of meeting that description, we can't just go around letting people die for no reason or pretty soon the gene pool is going to be slim to nothing and I happen to LIKE most humans- sometimes, atleast- so I'm not ready to go down without a fight yet,"

The speech was... well, it wasn't quite what any of them expected from someone who hadn't seemed at all concerned by bashing a man's skull into nothing but cracked edges and fractures and didn't seem the least bit bothered by being covered in blood...

"So?" he asked a second later

Rick glanced at Maggie, at the way she clung to Glenn and the dark circles under her eyes, and then turned back to the strange boy in front of them

"Alright,"

It was the best this Stiles kid was going to get

He just gave a nod, glancing behind him at the RV and nodding towards it

"That your's?"

"Yeah,"

"Well, come on then, let's go, I'll take you," he volunteered, rubbing his hands on his jeans as if that would help matters at all

"What about the rest of your people?" Michonne asked

"They'll join us when they're done," he shrugged back, heading towards the RV and pushing the door open, scanning the inside before stepping back to let the others in

Abraham went first, clearing the way for the others before Sasha stepped in, then Eugene and Rosita trailing after

"So he's shot, what's with her?" Stiles asked as soon as Daryl and Glenn started helping Maggie into the vehicle

"We don't know yet, something with the baby we think,"

Rick still was reluctant to give out any information, but this couldn't really be avoided if the boy was going to be taking Maggie to a doctor

The blood-soaked newcomer clicked his tongue, his mouth fidgeting uncomfortably as he scrubbed a hand over his face again and muttered a curse under his breath

He waited until Rick and Carl- the last two to board- had climbed in before turning his attention back to the woods

"Lydia!! You know how to drive an RV!?" he shouted

And much to the shock of those who were still watching the woods, out came a girl, little to no older than Stiles, with ginger hair and the same cleanness to her clothes that Stiles had once had

She carried nothing but a single pistol that sat comfortably in a holster at her waist

"Can I recite eighteenth century poetry from memory?"

Stiles squinted, nose wrinkling with discomfort as he stared at her

"I want to say yes...?"

"You're correct," she answered briskly, stepping into the RV and pausing at the door, "Malia wants to know what you're going to do with that menace outside,"

"The bat?" Stiles asked, exhaling lowly and rocking on the balls of his feet as he considered that, hands went everywhere, rubbing over the back of his neck, up through his hair and over his face before settling to cross his arms over his chest

"Burn it," he finally decided

"You want to burn it?" the girl- Lydia- repeated with slight disbeleif

"That thing was used for nothing but destruction, ghosts have a tendency to cling to things like that, we have enough of those already don't you think?"

She seemed contemplative for a moment, lips pursed unwillingly, before giving a single nod and drawing a walkie talkie from the holster on her other hip

"Burn it," she said clearly into the device, clicking it off and turning her attention to the other member of her group again

"What about the saviors?"

"Oh _God_ is that what they're calling themselves?" he groaned in utter disgust

"Like I said, we don't need anymore ghosts, we have enough as it is,"

"You also said that if they can be saved, they should be saved," she said quietly

He just sighed long and loud, closing his eyes and letting his hands fidget and squirm with unease again

"Let Derek decide," he said after a moment

Lydia seemed hesitant to accept that at first but ultimately didn't argue, turning on her walkie talkie again as she closed the door

Abraham was already in the driver's seat when Stiles rounded the corner, hands firmly in place and engine started

"I'm driving," he grunted- no room for arguing or debate in his tone

"Fine, then I'm shotgun," Stiles reasoned

"I'M shotgun," Lydia chimed immediately, taking a step closer

"That isn't fair, I called,"

"Stiles how many klicks are we away from home?"

The male was quiet for a moment, wincing as he guessed

"Eight...?"

"I'm shotgun," she repeated, taking a seat next to Abraham quite comfortably as Stiles found himself relegated to the back of the RV

And Rick just tried not to think too much about the fact that she called whatever base of operations they had "home"

"My dad's a sheriff too," he heard, glancing up and seeing the newcomer smiling down at Carl, clearly eyeing his hat

Something clenched in Rick's gut but he stayed quiet, he still hadn't figured this kid out yet and he was on the top of his guard until he did

"I used to steal his badge as a kid,"

Carl, for what it was worth, only glared daggers at the bloody man's attempt to lighten the mood, even more angry apparently than his father

"Right, well, I've introduced myself, it's time for you guys to make an introduction too, why don't we all get to know eachother huh?"

There was a short moment of silence before Rick spoke up again, keeping things short, curt, and simple

"I'm Rick, this is Carl, Michonne, that's Glenn, Maggie, and Daryl, Abraham, Rosita, Aaron, Eugene, and Sasha,"

Stiles hummed, giving a small nod and making his way to sit on the floor next to where Maggie was laying, glancing up at her and seeming to be... observing? Studying? It wasn't quite right, whatever it was

"Nice to meet you guys, like you already know I'm Stiles, that's Lydia," he shrugged

"How many people are in your group?"

"Wow Rick you really don't waste time do you? You mean... total? Like... population of Beacon Valley kind of total or..?"

"Beacon Valley?" Abraham snorted from the driver's seat

"What kinda cracker-jack name is Beacon Valley?"

"Excuse you, it's like a version of Beacon Hills, incidentally there are no HILLS in this area so we made due,"

"Beacon Hills... that where you're from?" Sasha asked as she took a seat on the floor next to him

"Yeah, Beacon Hills California,"

"You're from California? How did you end up here?" Michonne frowned with confusion

"That's a long, boring story, I promise, the capsule version is just that my group and I came down here looking for survivors,"

"You came all the way here.. to LOOK for survivors?"

Rick couldn't believe it, it sounded fake, after all the hell he went through trying to AVOID other people- avoid the danger they brought- this bizzare little man and however many people were with him trekked more miles than he could imagine looking for people

It didn't add up

"Why would you come looking for survivors? Why would you come this far?"

"Like I said, it's a long, boring story, I'll tell you guys sometime later, I promise,"

Rick didn't like the idea of "later", it sounded like he was prolonging something, or trying to hide something

"How many people do you have?" he finally settled on asking

"What, you mean, in the community? Or to take out bat-brains? Um, I lost count in the community... ah let me see.. me, Lydia.. four... five... um, ten,"

That... that just couldn't be right

Negan must have had upwards of fifty people at the clearing alone

How could TEN people have taken them all out so smoothly?

"Ten," Michonne stated smoothly

"Yeah, and look I know you guys have a few more than that but four of you were held captive, one is CLEARLY ill and there was the issue that time is of the essence so it's really less like you have eleven people and more like you have four, six, five if you kept someone in the RV to watch Maggie,"

Something about that still didn't seem quite right, but for now he was letting it go, Maggie was the priority, not .... this

Whatever the hell "This" was....

"Why did Negan try to kill you guys?"

Out of everyone, Rick least expected Glenn to bring something like that up

He glanced at Maggie, seeing how much of a struggle it was just to keep her eyes open, and he figured perhaps he was trying to distract her, or himself, or both of them...

"Let's just say we had a ... political disagreement,"

"Political disagreement? In this time?" Sasha asked in confusion

"Yeah, you know, we thought Negan was a sack of balls, he disagreed, political disagreement,"

From the driver's seat, Abraham huffed out a harsh bark of laughter, wich in turn lit a couple of thin, tense smiles to mostly everyone else

Rick was thankfull for that, atleast

"Lydia, how much further are we from the valley?"

"About five more klicks,"

Stiles pursed his lips, letting out a huff

"In a language we normal people can understand please?"

"Less than five minutes," she sighed, rolling her eyes as she glanced out of the RV window

"Was that really so hard?" he huffed, making some sort of vague gesture towards Rick, who was, understandably, not amused

"Right," he huffed a second later, rubbing the back of his neck

"Why did you come at Negan unarmed?"

Rick glanced at Daryl, taking silent note at how pale he was, at how hard it appeared to be for him to keep his eyes open, and part of him wondered if the reason he used up the energy to ask was to help himself stay awake

"Because I knew I had the upper hand, a weapon would have just slowed me down," he shrugged back

"How could you be sure?" this time it was Sasha who spoke up

"I've been at it long enough, I know Negan enough, it's... look, you guys don't know us yet, I get it, but trust me, once you get to know us... you'll understand,"

"And why exactly should we trust you? You just came in out of nowhere, ambushed fifty people and bashed someone's head in, now you're taking us to some community we don't know about,"

Rick was proud of his son, Carl always did speak up when he was most needed to it seemed

"Well we did just save your lives, that also happened, aaaaaand the people we ambushed and killed were the bad guys who wanted to kill one of you just to 'make an example' and also wanted to take your stuff, like.. it's the apocolypse, we don't need taxes, also we ARE in an RV full of strangers, who we're taking with us to our very awesome base for medical attention, not asking anything in return, and letting one of them drive, Lydia has exactly ONE weapon and I don't know for sure but I would think there are some blades or something hidden in here somewhere atleast, give ME one good reason we should trust YOU,"

Things went silent, as silent as it had been when they first boarded, and the tension that had gone away a few moments ago was back with a vengance

"Sorry, was that harsh?" Stiles asked with a sudden seriousness to him

"I mean you're the only ones who are living in this world right? You're the only ones who have lost anything, you're the only ones who have been through hell and have any right to be suspicious right?" he challenged, a definite sway to his hips as he stepped closer to Rick

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'every villain is the hero of their own story'? Now I know you're heros, your heros in YOUR story, but what are you in our's?" he paused, setting a hand on Rick's shoulder and giving it a squeeze

"We're trying to help you guys, we want to help you guys, we're trying to make this stay steady, you should try too," he explained, taking his hand away as suddenly as he had put it there

For a moment, Rick was silent, not sure how to respond to that

It felt akin to a slap in the face on some accounts, but at the same time the boy wasn't exactly wrong

"Holy nut-covered muskrats..."

Rick glanced up, taking a few steps towards the nearest window and feeling his breath catch

No wonder Abraham had been shocked, in front of them was a metal wall probably twice the height of Alexandria's, maybe a little less, but certainly no less impressive

It was plain, thick, metal and he had to crane his neck to stare up at the top of it

"Sweet! We're here!" Stiles shouted excitedly as the RV came to a stop

"Impressed? We ripped this sucker off of a roller coaster! There was a Six Flags around here that we raided ages ago, got some great stuff and this hunk of metal is by far our greatest treasure, do you know what it takes to fence in a roller coaster? ALOT, so we grabbed two of them and hauled 'em over here and they make a GREAT gate, nothing is getting over, under, through, or around this thing, that's for sure,"

"You BROUGHT it here?" Rick asked slowly

He couldn't imagine any amount of humans carrying that thing even with the help of cars, they'd need construction vehicles and to have broken that thing down and rebuilt it...

"Oh yeah, I mean it was no easy task but it happened," he shrugged

These people were getting stranger and stranger the more Rick heard about them...

"You have a pannel in your roof that opens right?" Lydia asked suddenly, drawing the ex-sheriff's attention back to reality

"Yeah,"

"Perfect- give me a boost Stiles,"

Stiles made a disgruntled noise, bending down as Lydia climbed up onto his shoulders and pushed the pannel up

Rick didn't see what she did, but the next thing he knew the gate started to move and Stiles lowered her back down into the RV

"You can park there in the parkinglot, next to the other cars," Lydia instructed as she moved towards the passenger's seat again

Abraham grumbled something under his breath but whatever it was, Rick couldn't hear it

"Don't worry, I'll get our clinic ready, everything is going to be ok," Stiles promised, opening the door of the RV the moment it was stopped and climbing out

Lydia followed immediately after and Rick hesitantly after her, noticing a man in a sheriff's uniform coming towards them and hurrying to embrace Stiles

So he hadn't been lying about his father being a sheriff it seemed, though Rick had no idea how he had managed to keep the uniform all this time

"Again Stiles?" the sheriff sighed loudly as he stared at the RV and more importantly the people coming out of it

"Negan had them,"

This seemed to stiffen the older man's face and he gave a stern nod of understanding

"Dad, is Melissa in the clinic? We've got a really sick pregnant woman, a gunshot victim, and Eugene here has a pretty nice shiner among other things,"

"She is yeah, I'll call her and make sure she knows who's coming, Chris can take care of the gunshot,"

"Right, and I've got the battery wounds,"

The sheriff stared at him, seeming skeptickal- much to Stiles' dismay

"I can wrap a bandage!"

"Alright alright," he sighed, shaking his head slowly and glancing up as Glenn and Abraham started to carry Maggie out

"I'll get Boyd over here, he can take her," he said, giving them a curt nod before hurrying off in another direction

"Where's the clinic?" Glenn asked immediately, taking a deep breath as he tried to keep himself calm

"Not far from here, the sheriff is getting someone to help you take her there," Lydia said quickly, turning towards them and giving a small, sympathetic smile

"I know you're scared, but I promise, she's in good hands,"

Glenn just nodded slowly, biting his lip and fidgeting

"I just want her to be ok... that's... that's all... I mean... I mean what if this is miscarriage or something? That.. that would kill her if... if..."

"I don't think it's a miscarriage, this is far too intense," Lydia added gently

"I think it's appendicitis, atleast that's what the symptoms would appear to say on first glance,"

He just gave a slow nod, glancing up as a dark-skinned man several inches taller than Abraham and atleast just as stacked with muscles followed behind the sheriff

He would have been intimidating if it weren't for the considerably gentle look on his face as he offered to carry Maggie towards the clinic, and understandably Glenn and Abraham gave their hesitant permission

"Come on, I'll take you to see Argent," Stiles offered, tossing a stray glance towards Daryl and stepping closer to him, almost on instinct

"Argent? The Argent that knew Negan?" Rick frowned

"Yeah, he's the only one besides Melissa who can remove bullets here and since Melissa is going to be occupied with Maggie..."

Rick didn't even have to instruct the group, it seemed like common sense that he, Carl, and Abraham would follow Daryl and Eugene to meet this mysterious Argent wile the rest went with Maggie

"It's going to rain," Stiles said suddenly, staring up at the sky as he walked

"How do you know that?" Daryl asked quietly, still death-gripped around his blanket as Rick noticed a slight tremor starting to go through his body

"Let's just say I have very strong intuition,"

"Intuition," Daryl snorted as he stumbled along, Rick pressing a subtle hand to his back to keep him steady, just in case

He noticed Stiles reaching out, apparently having noticed the tremors like Rick had, but Daryl flinched away immediately, a definitive glare set in his features

Stiles didn't seem bothered by it though, if anything he looked amused

"You remind me so much of my boyfreind, he used to be really skittish too, like someone was trying to electrocute him whenever they touched him, and with good reason but still, don't worry, I promise, everything will be ok,"

Rick, personally, didn't quite understand how anything could ever be "ok" again in these times, he sounded so optimistic...

But he supposed it was just another of the many, many oddities about this boy

"Argent! Open up! We need your bullet removal services!" Stiles shouted, banging on the door a few times

Sure enough, a few moments later the door swung open, a man around Rick's age standing in front of them with a deepset frown on his face

"Why is this something I'm suddenly known for?"

"Because Melissa is busy, now hurry up and let's get to it, looks like he's going to go into shock if we aren't quick," Stiles replied hurriedly, tossing an anxious glance back towards Daryl

The man- Argent- let out a loud sigh and stepped aside, assuring them inside

"Really Stiles? Again?"

"These were Negan's fault, ergo, kind of your responsibility if anyone's,"

Rick wondered distantly what he meant by that, but he was trying to concentrate on all of this, he didn't need to be worrying about that when he had so many of his own to be worrying about right now

"Gunshot over here, you over there," Argent said with disinterest as he gestured for where Daryl and Eugene should go

"How do you have electricity in here?" Carl frowned as he took a few hesitant steps into the house

It was lit with artificial lights and Rick could make out several appliances from a refrigderator in what he could see of the kitchen to a TV in the room across from where they were going

He supposed those might be from before, after all the houses in Alexandria were clearly furnished from before the.... apocolypse... and Stiles had made it clear that they hadn't been here, doing this, hosting this entire operation for very long, they probably hadn't had a chance to arrange things yet

Or atleast, he would have thought that if it weren't for the lights

"We have a really powerfull generator, and we have a special ... device, that converts lightening to electricity, the entire community is like that,"

"Lightening to electricity? That's highly improbable, the science required for that is-"

"Yeah, difficult to imagine, I know, but you have proof right in front of you don't you?" he said quickly, cutting off Eugene as the other man, Argent, started getting supplies out from a cabinet in front of him, Daryl reluctantly moving his blanket from his shoulders as Abraham instinctively went over to help with his shirt

Rick wanted to ask more about this, he knew everyone did, but before he had a chance the familiar static of a walkie talkie went off and they were forced into silence

"Yeah?" Stiles answered as he pulled the small device out of his pocket

_"Hey, how are things going?"_

"Derek! Good hearing from you- finally, everything is fine here, what about you guys? Is everyone ok?"

_"Everyone is fine, we've got about twenty survivors from Negan's group left,"_

"Yeah? What's their 1/10?"

_"It's a mixed bag,"_

Stiles hummed, seeming to consider that for a moment before speaking again

"Any below a five?" he finally asked

 _"Most of them strike under a five yes,"_ Derek's voice rang out over the walkie talkie

"I'm guessing you've taken care of anything a ten or over?"

_"Yes, the highest we have left is one eight and two sevens, the rest are six or lower,"_

"Mm... why so high?"

_"The eight is a doctor, the sevens both have children,"_

"I see.."

_"What do you want us to do? It's your call,"_

Stiles was quiet for a few moments, taking a step closer to the window by the door and staring out it

_"Stiles?"_

"I'm here Der.... listen, I want you guys home ok? Now,"

_"What? Why?"_

"Just come back to the valley- NOW, I'm sending Issac with a van to get the other survivors to take to the warehouse, we'll integrate them into society one at a time after a week of probation,"

_"Harsh, I'm guessing your intuition has something to do with this?"_

"You could say that, just... just come back ok?"

_"We'll be there soon, alright?"_

"Yeah, I'll have Issac down there before you can blink, trust me, and um..." he paused, stepping closer and lowering his voice as if trying to keep it from anyone else who could hear

"I love you Derek.. be safe ok?"

_"I'll do that, trust me, there's no need to worry, but .. I love you too, I'll be there soon, over,"_

Stiles didn't respond back, adjusting the channel on his walkie talkie and clearing his throat

"Hey Issac, I need a favor,"

There was a moment of silence, nothing but static crossing the airway before a familiar click picked up

_"You always need favors, but what is it this time?"_

"I need you to take a van out to where Derek and the others are, there are survivors that we might need, take them to the ware house for now, leave anyone a four and under to their cells and anyone five or over in cuffs then hurry back alright?"

_"Yeah I can do that, anything else?"_

"Nope, just.. just go as fast as you can and get back soon alright?"

_"What? Yeah.. alright, I can do that,"_

"Perfect, see you later Issac, over,"

With that he finally put his walkie talkie back into his pocket, offering a small smile as he headed back towards Eugene

"Ok, don't let the doubt on everyone's faces fool you, I'm actually pretty competent,"

"What in the hell was all that about?" Daryl grunted out

"What? The numbers?" Stiles guessed, sitting down on the rolling stool a few feet away and rolling up towards Eugene

"It's a ranking system we use to determine if someone is going to stab us in the back or not, we took out Negan and most of his men remember? We have to figure some of them are there by force but some are there by choice, some have loyalties that will turn easy and others are sticking to their guns, one is the best you'll get, the least chance of someone stabbing us in the back, one is what you'd rank like.. a four-year-old, or somebody injured who you save the life of who's eternally greatfull, ten is the highest chance, like someone is practically spitting in your face TELLING you they're going to kill you, it's not easy to figure out a ranking but over time you get used to it, we don't usually bring in people over a five or six but with external circumstances like these... I'll take a look at them myself and decide,"

"And what makes you the reigning lord of people skills?" Abraham bit out

Stiles let out a small snort, reaching out to start cleaning one of the bloodied wounds on Eugene's face

"What makes Rick your leader? I mean he IS your leader right? Didn't I hear that before when the king of cockroaches was going off on his power trip? You follow him because he's the best at the job right? Because he's proven himself to you and you know from experience? We don't exactly operate by one leader anymore, we used to, we TRIED but... that... didn't end up working, he ... that's not the point, we all have our strong suits, mine is strategy and people reading, that's where I'm best so that's what I do, well, I share the strategy part with Lydia... anyway, look, I've been at this sorta thing for a really, really long time, before this zombie business started, it isn't like I'm in charge of everything, I just happen to specialize in this,"

Rick wasn't quite sure what to make of that, it sounded fake for the most part but he was still uncertain enough about this kid that he wasn't sure if he wanted to challenge him or not

"You do this alot? Bringing people back from the edge of evil to.. what? Reform them?" Abraham snorted

"Reform is the wrong word for it but something like that, we don't have the time, energy, or resources to 'reform' people, we just take good people out of bad situations and try to keep them alive, remember what I said? We're here for the express purpose of gathering surviors, setting up safe spaces, maybe taking some back to California with us, we're here to take care of people and make sure the human race continues, not to turn Death Eaters into members of Dumbledore's Army,"

Daryl squinted at him, giving him an odd look and Eugene just... stared, sort of blankly but also confused

"Oh my God, Harry Potter, it is NOT that hard... the point is, we're just trying to find the good in a pile of bad here ok?"

Rick swallowed, he hadn't failed to notice the way Stiles stared at him and shifted his gaze around to the rest of the group upon mentioning taking survivors back to California

He didn't want to be confronted with that, but he would fight it if he was

"Don't worry about it ok? This place is incredibly secure, there's nothing to worry about,"

"You sounded pretty worried though, over the walkie, talking to your boyfreind," Eugene commented, flinching as Stiles rubbed some disinfectant over one of the scratches on his cheek

"Yes, worried for HIM, worried for them, I said this place is secure, they're outside of this place,"

There was no opportunity for anyone to respond or rebuff that, a moment later his walkie talkie began speaking again

 _"Stiles, Stiles pick up,"_ Lydia's voice rang out over the air waves

"Hey Lyds, what's going on?" he answered immediately, bringing the device closer to his lips

_"It's appendicitis, tell everyone to breathe easily, Melissa said they caught it right before it ruptured, she's going into surgery now but it should be a simple operation, even in these conditions, she says the chances are good,"_

Somehow that didn't give Rick much releif, there was still too much that could go wrong

"How good are those chances exactly?" Daryl hissed, glaring at Argent as he hit what Rick assumed would be a particuarly sensitive spot

"Very good, all things considered," Stiles shrugged back

"What about the baby?" Carl asked quietly

"Well... that really is more of a debate, it depends on how advanced the appendicitis is and it depends on how strong the baby is as to weather or not it'll live through the anesthesia,"

"You have anesthesia here?" Eugene asked in surprise

"Yeah, we have alot of supplies here that's in short elsewhere,"

"Where'd you get it?" Abraham frowned

"We brought some of it with us, we've raided alot of places on our way here," he shrugged back, wiping his hands on his pants and skirting back on the stool as he put the first aid kit back where it belonged, having finished Eugene's patch up by then

"Tell me somethin', why in the hell would you people drag all of that and yourselves down here when you were supposedly safe in California?" Abraham huffed

"Didn't we go over this already? We came here to find more survivors and help them, end of story, listen, Maggie won't be up for traveling for a few days after this, now correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you guys would just leave her here, stay until she feels better, we can talk more over time but right now I need to go wait for Derek and make sure everyone who was out are still in one peice, I'll have somebody else come by and show you guys to the guest house- it should be stocked with food already and you're welcome to the showers, I'll see you later ok? Stay well, don't die or anything, and Daryl needs to keep a check on his shoulder, that would could still get infected,"

With that Stiles was up and leaving faster than Rick thought he could possibly move

It was odd, given that Stiles had been so seemingly forth-coming with everything up until now

But then again it was to be expected, everything about this kid- these people, this PLACE- was incredibly strange

And he had a point, at best Maggie would need to be here two or three days for insurance, and although that morning he would have probably sent some of the others back to Alexandria.... he couldn't dream of even one of them being away from the group now...

They'd have a few days to investigate these people, to see what they wanted and what they were all about, it would be fine, he figured, they had time and they were on alert

He'd have time to question that Argent fellow too, knowing he was connected to Negan still bothered him but now wasn't the time to bring it up, not when he had only started to stitch Daryl's wound up

He'd settle these mysteries later

That's what he intended, atleast, when everyone gathered at the guest house later, and he tried his hardest to ignore the fact that out of seemingly nowhere, it had started raining

~+~

Rick woke up to the sounds of screaming and alarms

His first instinct was to jump up and take a surrveilance of who was still with him

Bright artificial light was streaming in through the windows, enough for him to take a quick sweep

Carl, Michonne, Daryl, Glenn, Abraham, Sasha, Eugene, Rosita, Aaron, even Maggie in the hospital bed that they had had brought over from the clinic...

He took a breath, releif sinking into his bones, as he switched into survival mode and turned towards the windows

"What's going on?" Carl asked quietly, rubbing his eye and starting to sit up

"I have no idea..."

"Well we'd better find out," Daryl grunted with a frown, starting to sit up as well

"I'll go," Carl said immediately

"You'll stay, I'LL go," Michonne insisted

"I'm going too," Sasha said quickly

"So am I," Aaron added

"Wait... wait, wait, wait, we ain't ALL going, some of us need to stay here with Maggie, and it's just... unnecessary for us all to go,"

Unnecessary, because it kept playing over and over in his head that if some of them had stayed in Alexandria to begin with they never would have been in the line up in front of Negan, they never would have been at risk...

"Rick is right, I think only three of us should go investigate," Michonne offered

"Agreed," Abraham grunted

"Alright... then Michonne, Abraham, and I will go, everybody else stays here," Rick concluded

"I'm going too," Daryl piped up

"Like hell you are!" Abraham snarled

"I'm going!" Daryl shouted back

"Daryl, you're staying," Rick insisted

The other man pursed his lips, stepping closer and taking a deep breath

Before he could speak, however, Michonne interrupted

"Rick, just let him come, we could use the help, he doesn't need both arms in perfect order to shoot a gun,"

The ex-sheriff took a deep breath, finally nodding and walking towards the door

They had convinced the sheriff of the community with barely any effort to give them some weapons, with the assurance from Stiles that they were looking through everything that had been confiscated by the saviors with every intention to return the weapons belonging to Rick and his group to them

"If anything happens... you do whatever you have to do to keep everybody here safe," he said quietly as he set a hand on Glenn's shoulder, squeezing slightly

"Yeah... yeah ofcourse," he said quietly, giving a strict nod and picking up one of the pistols in the stash by the couch

"Good luck," he wished, securing it around his waist as he walked back over towards Maggie and took her hand, giving it a tight squeeze

They didn't hesitate any longer, grabbing as many guns as they could reasonably carry and rushing out of the guest house

It didn't take long for them to find the commotion, in the middle of the road, near the gate, stood Stiles and a small group of other people, clearly having just been woken as abruptly as they had

"What's going on here?" Rick asked immediately as he approached the group

"Intruders, we aren't sure what to expect yet," Stiles replied quickly, already in a clear defensive stance despite not having a weapon on him

"And you still ain't got a gun," Abraham huffed

"I don't need a gun to deal with these idiots... you guys sure you want to stay and watch this go down?"

"You're talking like you won't need any help," Daryl huffed

"No offense, but we won't," replied a larger man standing next to Stiles, he had jet black hair, a face full of surprisingly well managed scruff, and hazel-green eyes, the way he was standing next to Stiles and the fact that his pajama pants matched Stiles' shirt gave Rick a pretty good indication of who he was

"And you are?" Michonne frowned

"Derek Hale, nice to meet you," he replied curtly, wrinkling his nose and glancing at Stiles

"I smell Wolfsbane,"

"Seriously?"

"Must have heard about Negan's death,"

"How? We didn't let any of those creeps with him get out,"

"There's no telling, we couldn't have possibly kept track of all of them," answered another man, this one with equally dark hair, tan skin, and a slightly crooked jaw

"Scott has a point," added a girl with long black hair holding a katana- wich looked extremely odd in compliance with her nightgown, although the odd combination of pajamas sweeping across the small group didn't exactly look suave to begin with

"Would somebody tell us what's going on here?" Daryl hissed

"Remember how we said Argent and Negan had issues because of a political disagreement? Meet the political disagreement," Stiles huffed back

Rick glanced up, narrowing his eyes as he saw two men approaching them, they were tall, with one easily towering over six feet, and both of them carrying rifles, but that was all, nothing more, nothing less

"Two guys?" Abraham frowned

"That's a bit of an understatement, they're hunters, nasty people, you don't want to mess with them,"

"Hey," huffed a girl with long umber curls

"You know I don't mean you," Stiles sighed, eyes narrowing as he stepped forward

"Stiles," Derek said quietly

"I know, go ahead," he said quietly

And then something utterly horrifying happened

Derek's face changed, it shifted into something ... deformed, disfigured...

And then as if a chain reaction started, several others began to shift as well

"What in the squirrel tit!?" Abraham shouted

"You haven't seen anything yet," the brunette across from Stiles said quietly, drawing an arrow from the quiver on her back and setting it against her bow

As if that wasn't hard enough to swallow, Stiles snapped his fingers and instantly a flame appeared in the center of his palm

Needless to say everyone was speechless at this point

"Alright... anyone shoot any one of them, you're gonna get burned," he said smoothly, gesturing to the group of people who had shifted into a more... animalistic... monstrous form...

"And if you two shoot any of the, you're gonna get burned," he glanced at the new arrivals and then shifted his focus to Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and Abraham

It was an odd feeling, being so threatened but still having protection offered to them, then again all of this was strange...

"And if any of you shoot the hunters... well, I can't say I'd hold it against you," he shrugged, stepping towards the new pair with an angry expression over his face

"Now... you two, you have one chance, GET OUT," he snarled

"Boy do you have it out for hunters, what's your beef anyway kid?" the slightly shorter male rumbled, his voice deep, thick, and rough

"Oh I don't know, maybe because in the freaking ZOMBIE APOCOLYPSE the biggest thing we still have to worry about is YOU people," he snapped

"Look we're... trying to fix this apocolypse thing ok? I promise, we just... we're kind of in the process of doing that, and that's why we're here," the taller male said

"'Fix' it? What? Did you break the universe or something and cause it?" Stiles huffed sarcastically

The hunters exchanged looks, both of them wincing and fidgeting

"Look, that isn't important, I'm Dean, this is my brother Sam, we're looking for our dad, any of you see a guy named John Winchester around here?"

Taking a deep breath, Stiles flicked his wrist and the flame went out, a frustrated look on his face

"Winchester? No, how did you two get in here anyway?"

"We have a freind in high places.... you're sure you haven't seen him?" the taller man- Sam- asked

"We haven't, what about you guys?" Stiles returned, glancing towards Rick and the others

"No," Rick replied curtly

"Good, we haven't seen him, they haven't seen him, why don't you two just crawl back out the hole you came in through?"

"Wait... he might be going by a different name," Sam said quickly

"He's a little bit... possessed, by a demon right now," Dean said slowly

"Oh God not this again," Stiles sighed

"'This again'? What do you mean 'this again'?" Michonne asked in horror

"I... have a small history with evil possession, let's leave it at that,"

"Let's not," Abraham interjected quickly

"Look... the point is he's going by a different name now, or atleast might be," Sam sighed, handing it off to his brother

"Yeah, so... any of you ever hear of an evil sack of crap named _Negan_?"

And then, without wasting a moment and in pure unison, Rick and Stiles let out a sigh

"Aw hell....."

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone is wondering what happened between Negan and Chris, I 1000% intended to explain this but couldn't find the right place, Negan used to be a hunter before the apocolypse and when he met up with Chris again and found out he had sided with werewolves he was outraged and left the werewolves and their "sympathizers" to die

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Safe Zones](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13560132) by [RoseThorn14](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseThorn14/pseuds/RoseThorn14)




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